We Believe In Jesus: The KingSample

Jesus Chosen by God as Son of David: Luke 1:31-33

God is the great emperor or suzerain over all creation. And the king of Israel was the servant king or vassal over God’s special, holy nation Israel. And since only God can delegate his own authority, he himself had to choose all the legitimate kings that were to receive and exercise a measure of God’s authority over his nation. 

Jesus met this qualification because God selected and designated him to be king over Israel. We see this in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17, and in the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary about the birth of Jesus. Consider Gabriel’s words to Mary in Luke 1:31-33:

You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end (Luke 1:31-33).

God made it clear that he had chosen Jesus to be the king over his people. 

It almost goes without saying that Jesus met the qualification of being an Israelite because he was born into an Israelite family. His miraculous incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary made his birth unusual. But he was still a legal child of Joseph and Mary, and a full member of the covenant community of Israel. This is confirmed by Jesus genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, and also by passages like Romans 9:5 that speak of Jesus having true Israelite ancestry.

God’s covenant with David established David’s descendants as Israel’s permanent dynasty. So, only David’s heirs could make a legitimate claim to Israel’s kingship. Jesus’ membership in David’s house is clearly taught in many places in Scripture. To list just a few, we see it in Matthew 1:1-25, Romans 1:1-3, and Revelation 5:5 and 22:16.